High packet loss, low speeds, assistance did not work.
Greetings,
I have been trying for months now working with Cox the best I can to solve these issues which I will list here, this is the last attempt I will do to fix the internet. My apartment building is locked with Cox so I am planning to move because of this. I will break down my issues and what we did to try to fix them.
Problems:
- I currently get frequent and consistent packet loss, very rarely this packet loss is minimal, between 2%-5% however the average is usually 20%-90% packet loss. Sometimes entire minutes go by in which I seemingly have no connection to the internet.
- My internet speeds are extremely inconsistent, if I am lucky I get 30mbps (seems capped at that) download and 15-20 mbps upload. Again, this is if I am lucky, I may have this consistency for several hours. Often times my internet is more like 1-10 mbps download and 5-10 mbps upload. To put into perspective how bad this is, I am currently paying for 300 mbps download and 30 mbps upload. (See pic below IP eliminated for protection.)
- There seems to be little related to time of day when the connection problems occur, I figured potentially it might be a internet traffic issue or something else but that is not the case. Problems could be present at 1:00 AM or 10:00 AM it doesn't matter.
- When the speed tests I do come close to reflecting my paid for speeds, (150 mbps average, still below) it is always as if the connection is slowly ramping up to that number, struggling to get there. When in the past when I used to speed test before these issues it would be at a consistent 300 mbps immediately.
Attempted Fixes:
- Now that I listed the problems I will go into the attempts to fix these problems.
- I spent a total of 2-3 weeks on with different support technicians attempting to fix the problem. I was first told to purchase a new modem, since it was my equipment and I did, I went out and purchased a brand new modem. I still have the exact same problems that I did with the old one.
- I was told it may be my router. so I bypassed the router entirely with a hard line into my desktop from the router. The problems persisted even without the routers involvement in the network.
- I went through several days/nights of trying to work with technicians in resetting the modem, during which I was attempts to up sell me to a better level of tech support. I declined each time because I was getting aggravated that I would be asked to pay more money to have a problem fixed that was clearly not a problem with my equipment (in my mind).
- A technician team was dispatched to my apartment, I live directly across from the cable room. They did some tests and came to the conclusion there was a problem with the lines, anything more than that I don't know. They said it should be working now, and it was good for I want to say, an hour. Before it all started up again. I was subsequently charged for that visit as well.
- The technician also made a comment about electrical current in the small box where the cable comes from. I have lived here for over 3 years now and that was never an issue before, but it may somehow be now?
- The last attempt to fix the connection over the phone ended with the result that "there was nothing they could do on their end, and that I would either need to pay additional money for advanced tech support, or buy panoramic wifi (not sure why that would help) to fix the problem." Which to me, comes off as a form of a strong arm or blackmail to purchase additional services to have repaired internet.
Concluding:
I am willing to provide any information that may be of help in fixing my connection, I am again, at the end of my rope here. My primary form of entertainment is the internet, and I currently work from home full time like so many others. Having a stable connection is important, and there were times recently during a work conference call where my connection was dropping in the middle of important meetings. I am at the end of my rope.
